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Singer-songwriter finds herself in paying homage to a great artistic beacon

Author of the article:

Roger Levesque

Publishing date:

November 28, 2018 • 5 minute read

Edmonton folk-jazz singer-songwriter Kate Blechinger alternates songs by Joni Mitchell and original material on her debut disc Under A Dancing Sky, to be released Thursday, Nov. 29, 2018 at the Yardbird Suite in Edmonton.Raine Radtke/ Supplied

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So you’re a singer-songwriter getting ready to record your first album. Where do you draw the line between paying homage to your biggest influence and expressing your inner self?

Kate Blechinger came up with an elegant solution for her debut disc Under A Dancing Sky. Half the tracks are new interpretations of her self-admitted biggest inspiration, Joni Mitchell, while the other half are the Edmonton singer’s originals that sometimes take off from or tie into the covers.

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The result offers some intriguing hints at where the singer comes from and where she’s going, with an implicit acknowledgment that — like Mitchell — she enjoys crossing over different song styles.

“At first, I really made the album about Joni Mitchell,” Blechinger said, “and I wanted it to come out this year. With her 75th birthday (this past Nov. 7), it felt like the perfect time. But everything I was hearing from others was to not forget about myself in the process. It’s my debut album so that was definitely part of the challenge. It’s really about overcoming and transcending.”

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It can’t be an easy thing to interpret one of the greatest, most original songwriters of modern times but Blechinger does a hip balancing act in her unique, thoughtful and entertaining debut. This hybrid work of creative sources and motives goes far beyond simple admiration for a wise musical idol to address issues about being an artist and a woman. Blechinger’s originals gel with the covers as they delve into her own experience, using Mitchell as a de facto mentor through the lessons of the songs themselves and background research.

Under A Dancing Sky also features some of the city’s top jazz players like pianist Chris Andrew and bassist Rubim de Toledo, Blechinger’s long time guitarist Brett Hansen and drummer Joel Jeschke, with guests like Mallory Chipman, Christine Hanson, Audrey Ochoa and others. Painter Jill Chipman created a beautiful cover graphic of a cloudy sky that’s figurative and abstract all at once.

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The album starts with Blechinger’s own expansive Prairie Plains, a homage to Mitchell’s song Paprika Plains and a nod to personal parallels. Like Mitchell, she’s a native to the sprawling prairie of Saskatchewan and Alberta.

“Joni talks about ‘such sky oriented people’ where she’s from so I totally related to that.”

Following a jazzy take on the early Mitchell tune Night In The City, Blechinger continues with her own Qu’Appelle, inspired by first love and her frequent visits to Saskatchewan’s Qu’Appelle Valley.

Going On is about being overwhelmed with loss on a personal and social scale, while Cellophane takes off from Mitchell’s documented career frustrations with being a soul-baring artist on albums like Blue, only to face the narrow expectations of others in the music industry.

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“It’s kind of anthemic about seeing a vulnerable woman in music, and making that empowering and a source of strength. I wanted to re-frame that in a way that restores the power.”

Blechinger calls herself a feminist, admitting that figures like Mitchell have pointed the way for artists like herself by offering an example of how far an innovative female singer-musician could go.

The singer’s River Flowing ponders the task of finding yourself creatively, while the last original Out Of Fear is about finding the courage to make the album, and looking to her future ambitions.

“It’s about the ways we’re similar and the ways we’re different, and me wondering if she (Mitchell) ever felt like she had fears to overcome. It’s about learning to see myself.”

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Mitchell fans will find two of her most famous tunes in fresh interpretations, Both Sides Now and Blue, with the latter a particular triumph in the way Blechinger captures both the spare essence of the original and something new in an intimate duet with clarinetist Joseph Semple. Night In The City, All I Want, a stirring take on Black Crow, and a lovely Ladies Of The Canyon are also included.

“The plan was always to do at least a quarter of my own material but in the process I wrote more new songs inspired by Joni that fit the vision of the album. Songwriting can be so cathartic. Some of the cover arrangements date back a few years but there are new songs from as recently as last winter.”

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Regina-raised Blechinger grew up participating in family singalongs, hearing folksingers like Gordon Lightfoot, Bob Dylan, Mitchell and others on record. She started piano lessons at seven and took on upright bass at 13 to join a youth big band, an experience that pushed her interest in jazz and other genres. After a year of university she moved to Edmonton in 2011 to enrol in the music program at MacEwan.

By the time she graduated with a bachelor of music in vocal performance in 2015, her awareness of different song styles had broadened considerably, she was arranging songs by Mitchell and others, and writing original material too mostly with a traditional jazz feel. But Blechinger still yearned to write with the lyricism and harmonic sense she knew from folk.

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Along the way she started singing varied sets with her own group which has performed regularly at the jazz festival for several years, and five years ago she co-founded the female vocal trio Jivin’ Belles. She was also asked to present at a university symposium on Mitchell’s music in Lincolnshire, England, in 2015. Her thoughts and plans for this debut album go back about four years now and a successful grant application from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts last year helped to make it a reality.

Under A Dancing Sky was captured in MacEwan’s new recording facility over several stints in April, July and September and the disc is released on the university’s Bent River label. The album was produced, engineered and mixed by MacEwan’s Juno Award-winning Paul Johnston who Blechinger says was great at “bringing out the best in me” and giving advice on tricky arranging challenges.

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“With this being my first album, I kind of bit off a lot in trying to pay tribute to Joni and to showcase my own artistry. My goal is just to reach as many people as possible and get my name out there, and to make more albums. I hope it’s a gateway for people to get into my original music, and to bring on more performance opportunities.”

Blechinger’s album release for Under A Dancing Sky is a YEG Showcase 8 p.m. Thursday at the Yardbird Suite.

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